How to Write 趑 (zī) — Meaning “To falter; to hesitate.”

Imagine a person walking (走) and then stopping to say "um..." — the sound "zī" sounds like "zzz," like they are hesitating. Picture the right side 次 as a "next" sign, but the person stops before going to the next step.

The left radical 走 has 7 strokes and ends with a horizontal stroke — do not confuse its bottom part with 止. The right part 次 begins with two dots (冫), not three dots (氵), and ends with 欠 — ensure the two dots are clearly written and not connected.

趑 (zī) has 次 on the right, while 趁 (chèn) has 刍 on the right and means "to take advantage of." 趄 (jū) has 且 on the right and can also mean to hesitate, but it is usually part of the compound 趑趄 — visually, 趑 has more strokes on its right side and a different top component.

趑 is not used alone in daily speech; it appears in the literary phrases 趑趄不前 and 趑趄不进, meaning "to hesitate to move forward." You will mainly encounter it in formal writing or classical texts, and it is not part of the HSK vocabulary list.

Common words containing 趑 include: 趑趄 (zī jū) — To hesitate; to falter.; 趑趄不前 (zī jū bù qián) — To hesitate to move forward.; 趑趄不进 (zī jū bù jìn) — To hesitate to advance..